Written Answers Monday 29 August 2005

Scottish Executive

Central Heating

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set in each year and in total from 2005 to 2010 and beyond to provide cavity wall insulation in houses with unfilled cavity walls.

Malcolm Chisholm: We install cavity wall insulation through the Warm Deal and the central heating programme. We have not set targets for cavity wall installation, principally because these programmes are demand-led. The future of the Warm Deal and central heating programmes beyond 2006 is currently under consideration.

Employment

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17448 by Nicol Stephen on 19 July 2005, whether it will include the relevant trade unions in any discussions on how the Arjo Wiggins paper mill at Corpach might be kept open as a going concern.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has asked Scottish Development International and Lochaber Enterprise to take the lead in working closely with the company to explore all feasible options for the future of the facility. As part of their efforts Lochaber Enterprise has been in regular contact with the company and the local union representatives. This has involved all the relevant local players in planning a co-ordinated response.

  Unfortunately, Arjo Wiggins has now made it clear that it intends to close the Corpach mill at the end of September. The workforce has been informed of this, but no redundancy notices have been served yet. A redundancy support team will be working with union representatives, staff and management to provide support to the people faced with losing their jobs.

  To respond to the planned closure Lochaber Enterprise has formed a task team to look at all relevant issues, co-ordinate action and ensure that all future options for the site are fully explored. Local MP Charles Kennedy has agreed to chair the group and its membership will include a senior staff member of Argo Wiggins as well as relevant union representatives.

Employment

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking through inward investment to create more jobs in Dundee.

Nicol Stephen: Scottish Development International (SDI) and its partners, including Scottish Enterprise Tayside, target global decision makers in key industries to highlight business opportunities and secure investment into Scotland. This includes traditional foreign direct investment (FDI) projects but also research investment and new technology partnerships. The high international regard for this work can be seen in the fact that in October 2004 the Financial Times’ FDI Magazine awarded Dundee the title of "European Cities of the Future – Best FDI Promotion Strategy".

  The Scottish Executive and its agencies continue to work to attract the kind of inward investment to Dundee which has helped make it an internationally recognised location for the life sciences and creative industries, attracting companies such as US-owned drug discovery firm Upstate and medical imaging specialists Kestrel 3D. Dundee is also home to long-standing inward investors such as NCR which continues to make high-value investments in the area assisted by public sector support.

Employment

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to increase the number of manufacturing jobs in Dundee.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive operates a range of measures to assist manufacturing throughout Scotland. The Executive’s strategy, Smart Successful Scotland, is delivered through local enterprise companies including Scottish Enterprise Tayside in Dundee which works closely in conjunction with the Business Gateway and also its partners in the Dundee Community Planning Partnership. Together they offer manufacturers business support services which are available to all types and sizes of business and Scottish Enterprise Tayside also provides intensive support to key companies with the best potential for sustainable growth.

  The Executive provides direct financial support for investment projects through Regional Selective Assistance which, in the past two years, has provided 11 companies in Dundee over £2.7 million of grant aid creating 182 jobs and securing the employment of 206. Other direct Executive grant schemes such as Smart and Spur, which encourage product and process innovation, have delivered £1.68 million to 14 Dundee companies.

  The Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service - designed specifically to improve productivity in manufacturing industry will be introduced later this year.

Employment

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it would expect the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to agree to meet the sponsors of a proposed £16 million investment project designated for an area in Lanarkshire with high unemployment.

Nicol Stephen: : This is a matter for the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise.

Fuel Poverty

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to raise awareness of, and ensure ease of access to, the ScottishPower Energy People Trust fund among charitable agencies helping vulnerable young people to avoid fuel poverty.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is primarily a matter for ScottishPower. However, our leaflet entitled Fuel Poverty: An Adviser’s Guide to referral networks , which has been distributed widely in the voluntary sector, includes contact details of agencies which will be aware of this source of funding. Further, membership of the Scottish Executive Fuel Poverty Forum affords ScottishPower and other energy companies the opportunity to discuss a variety of issues directly with representatives from the voluntary sector.

Fuel Poverty

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of households have been in fuel poverty in each of the last three years.

Malcolm Chisholm: The latest data available are contained in the Scottish House Condition Survey 2002. At that time it was estimated that around 286,000 households lived in fuel poverty, approximately 13% of the total housing stock. The Scottish House Condition Survey is the only source we have for reliably assessing the extent of fuel poverty in Scotland.

  The new Continuous Scottish House Condition Survey uses a much smaller annual sample-size than the 2002 Survey. For this reason, we will not be able to update the detailed fuel poverty analysis of the type contained within the 2004 Fuel Poverty report until 2007 at the earliest when we will have responses for the first three years of the survey.

General Register Office for Scotland

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14170 by Tavish Scott on 25 February 2005, why details of enhancements to the General Register Office for Scotland website were not published with the Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends and when details of these enhancements, and the data itself, will be made available.

George Lyon: It was not possible to publish details of the enhancements to the General Register Office for Scotland website along with the annual review as the review of the statistical information on the website had not then been completed. Following the completion of the review, progressive changes will be made. Changes so far include restructuring of the menu for easier use, the addition of a quick reference page and the provision of a section containing all the vital events reference tables for 1996 to 2004. It is intended to make summary weekly data on vital events available on the website by the end of October. A programme of these and other enhancements has been placed on the website at:  http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/improvements-to-statistics-area-of-website.html .

Hospital-Acquired Infection

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths have been recorded where (a) clostridium difficile-associated disease, (b) MRSA, (c) vancomycin-resistant enterococci, (d) multi-resistant acinetobacter spp and (e) penicillin-resistant streptococcus pneumoniae was mentioned on the death certificate and in how many cases it was also the underlying cause of death in each year since 2001.

The Executive has supplied the following corrected answer:

George Lyon: The information requested is given in the following table.

  Deaths Associated with Certain Causes Mentioned on Death Certificates

  

 
2001
2002
2003
2004


(a) Clostridium Difficile-Associated Disease
 
 
 
 


 - mentioned on death certificate
139
137
157
206


 - of which, underlying cause
57
70
75
98


(b) MRSA
 
 
 
 


 - mentioned on death certificate
136
155
170
188


 - of which, underlying cause
36
46
39
42


(c) Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci
 
 
 
 


 - mentioned on death certificate
0
3
2
1


 - of which, underlying cause
0
0
0
0


(d) Mult-Resistant Acinetobacter SPP
 
 
 
 


 - mentioned on death certificate
0
0
0
0


 - of which, underlying cause
0
0
0
0


(e) Penicillin-Resistant Streptococcus Pneumoniae
 
 
 
 


 - mentioned on death certificate
0
0
0
0


 - of which, underlying cause
0
0
0
0



  These data should be treated with great caution: detailed information on healthcare associated infections as a cause of death from specific infections can be difficult or impossible to interpret safely. As at the end of 2004 there was no international code for recording MRSA as a cause of death: the MRSA data above were abstracted from hand-written notes on the original paper certificates, and are not taken from formal national electronic datasets. In addition, detailed recording of specific healthcare associated infections as a cause of death is often influenced by the then current level of professional and public awareness – e.g. in recording clostridium difficile rather than the more commonly used generic category, intestinal infection: apparent increases in cases may therefore not reflect the true underlying picture.

Hospital-Acquired Infection

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research is being undertaken to find appropriate treatments to alleviate vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE).

Mr Andy Kerr: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within the Scottish Executive Health Department funded a study, which completed in February 2001. It assessed theories on how VRE is spread and methods of control in high dependency units. The study found that the type of vancomycin-resistance that is found may be influenced by the way in which antibiotics are prescribed. A greater understanding of the pattern of resistance will help to identify the therapeutic options likely to be effective. Guidance on prudent antibiotic prescribing in hospitals will be published in the very near future.

  The CSO is not currently funding any research into VRE, but would be pleased to consider research proposals for innovative VRE studies of a sufficiently high standard. These would be subject to the usual peer and committee review.

  Details of further UK research studies that have been undertaken on VRE can be found on the National Research Register.

Housing

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many compulsory purchase orders have succeeded in releasing land for affordable housing in each year since 1999, broken down by planning authority.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally. The information provided by local authorities to the Scottish ministers, in seeking confirmation of a compulsory purchase order, do not necessarily specify whether land is to be released for affordable housing. A local authority is also not obliged to inform the Executive whether a confirmed order has been actioned or not, and therefore whether it has succeeded in its purpose.

NHS Waiting Times

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have waited more than (a) three, (b) six, (c) nine, (d) 12, (e) 15, (f) 18 and (g) 24 months for (i) heart operations, (ii) cancer treatment and (iii) hip replacements in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The majority of patients who require in-patient and day case treatment, are treated quickly. Nearly 55% of patients treated in NHSScotland hospitals receive immediate treatment and never join a waiting list. Of those who do wait 41% are admitted within one month and almost 70% within three months.

  For those who wait longer, the current national maximum waiting time is nine months. This guaranteed waiting time will be reduced to six months from the end of 2005 and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007. On 30 June 2005, no NHSScotland patient with a guarantee had waited more than nine months for in-patient and day case treatment.

  Retrospective analyses of the time between the decision to treat and receipt of treatment are derived from information on patients treated during the previous year. This includes cases where patients will have had an Availability Status Code (ASC) applied, for example because they were medically unfit or asked for their admission to be deferred for personal reasons. So the analyses include patients who did not have a guarantee of treatment within nine months. The information requested on heart operations and hip replacements is given, on this basis, in the table entitled Number of Patients by Length of Wait, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37249).

  Fair To All, Personal To Each, set out our commitment to abolish Availability Status Codes and introduce a new system of defining and measuring waiting times, which will be clearer, more consistent and help to put patients at the centre of their care, by the end of 2007.

  Waiting times for cancer treatments equivalent to the waiting times for the other specified procedures are not available from routinely collected hospital data as complete information is not captured on all treatment types, such as hormonal therapy and chemotherapy and not all cancer treatments require a hospital admission.

  Information on cancer waiting times is currently gathered through cancer audit systems in order to measure the target that "by December 2005 the maximum wait from urgent referral to treatment for all cancers will be two months" from Cancer in Scotland: Action for Change, published in 2001. Information showing performance against the target by NHS board of diagnosis is currently available for lung, breast, colorectal and ovarian cancers and is available from the following Scottish Executive website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/health/cancer/cancerwaits.

  Performance for other tumour types and updates to the information will be published by the Scottish Executive as they become available.

NHS Waiting Times

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11089 by Mr Andy Kerr on 11 November 2004, what the average waiting time is for orthopaedic surgery in each NHS board area and what the (a) shortest and (b) longest waiting time was in each board area in the year ending 30 June 2005.

Mr Andy Kerr: The majority of patients who require in-patient and day case treatment, including orthopaedic surgery, are treated quickly. Nearly 55% of patients treated in NHSScotland hospitals receive immediate treatment and never join a waiting list. Of those who do wait 41% are admitted within one month and almost 70% within three months.

  For those who wait longer, the current national maximum waiting time is nine months. This guaranteed waiting time will be reduced to six months from the end of 2005 and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007. On 30 June 2005, no NHSScotland patient with a guarantee had waited more than nine months for in-patient and day case treatment.

  Median waiting times are derived from information on patients treated during the previous year and include cases where patients will have had an Availability Status Code (ASC) applied, for example because they were medically unfit or patients asked for their admission to be deferred for personal reasons. The inclusion of those with an ASC inevitably increases the median wait and the longest wait. The table shows the median wait, by NHS board, for all patients who were discharged from hospital following orthopaedic surgery in the year ended 30 June 2005.

  Fair To All, Personal To Each, set out our commitment to abolish Availability Status Codes and introduce a new system of defining and measuring waiting times, which will be clearer, more consistent and help to put patients at the centre of their care, by the end of 2007.

  NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for All Patients, Including Those with Availability Status Codes, for Orthopaedic Surgery, by NHS Board of Residence. Year Ended 30 June 2005P

  

NHS Board
Median Wait (Days)


Argyll and Clyde
145


Ayrshire and Arran
118


Borders
97


Dumfries and Galloway
105


Fife
158


Forth Valley
175


Grampian
112


Greater Glasgow
111


Highland
133


Lanarkshire
166


Lothian
150


Orkney Islands
117


Shetland Islands
105


Tayside
115


Western Isles
83


Scotland
132



  PProvisional.

  Source: NHS National Services Scotland, SMR01.

NHS Waiting Times

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are target waiting times for hernia operations.

Mr Andy Kerr: The current national maximum waiting time for in-patient and day case treatment, including hernia operations, is nine months. This guaranteed maximum waiting time will be reduced to six months from the end of this year, and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007.

  On 30 June 2005, no patient with a guarantee had waited more than nine months for in-patient and day case treatment.

National Health Service

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the IT systems used by NHS Argyll and Clyde and NHS Greater Glasgow are compatible.

Mr Andy Kerr: Although these two NHS boards do not use exactly the same set of IT systems they have similar uses and features and are compatible. Common information standards are in place, they report on the same basis for national statistics and they are interfaced to a common infrastructure which can be configured to allow them to share data using the Community Health Index number. Moreover, two key systems are used by each NHS board: the patient record system known as SCI Store and the secure NHS Gateway which enables them to share patient information and exchange patient information with primary care under secure conditions.

National Health Service

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the IT systems used by NHS Argyll and Clyde and NHS Highland are compatible.

Mr Andy Kerr: Although these two NHS boards do not use exactly the same set of IT systems they have similar uses and features and are compatible. Common information standards are in place, they report on the same basis for national statistics and they are interfaced to a common infrastructure which can be configured to allow them to share data using the Community Health Index number. Moreover, two key systems are used by each NHS board: the patient record system known as SCI Store and the secure NHS Gateway which enables them to share patient information and exchange patient information with primary care under secure conditions.

Population

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total population was in each local authority area in each year since 1980.

George Lyon: Local authority areas were established on 1 April 1996. Figures for 1981-2004 are available from the General Register Office for Scotland’s website for these administrative areas. These are consistent with revisions made following the 2001 Census. Estimates for 1980 are only available for the old district areas.

  
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/poptest/revised-mid-year-est.html;
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/poptest/01-populations/index.html;
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/poptest/02-mid-year-tables/index.html;
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/poptest/03mid-year-estimates-tables/index.html, and
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/recently-published-population-estimates/index.html.

Water Safety

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress Scottish Water has made in building a new treatment works to reduce the risk of water contamination in parts of Glasgow.

Rhona Brankin: As these are operational matters for Scottish Water, this is a matter for the Chief Executive and I have asked him to write to you on this.

  In the meantime, you may be interested to know that Scottish Water is currently undertaking the construction of the Katrine Water Project, with an estimated value of around £120 million, to improve the drinking water of 700,000 customers in the Glasgow area. For more information and an update of progress please refer to Scottish Water’s website for this project: www.katrinewaterproject.com.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Sir William Wallace

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what measures it has in place to enable the Parliament to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the execution of Sir William Wallace.

Andrew Welsh: The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has collaborated with the National Archives of Scotland to stage a temporary exhibition to commemorate the anniversary.

  The display, "For Freedom Alone", is on show in the Main Hall for four weeks from August 15 to September 9. It features three remarkable documents including the Lubeck Letter, which is the only known surviving letter issued by William Wallace. This has been loaned from Germany especially for the display.

  Also on display are the Declaration of Arbroath, of 1320, and the Ayr Manuscript, the second-oldest surviving text of laws passed in the Scottish Parliament in 1318, during the reign of King Robert 1.

  The exhibition is accompanied by a special commemorative leaflet and the Parliament’s shop will be retailing a poster print of the Declaration of Arbroath. The National Archives of Scotland have produced a set of educational resources linked to the exhibition which can be accessed on line.

Sir William Wallace

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had with regard to a permanent recognition in the parliamentary complex of the historic importance of Sir William Wallace in the nationhood of Scotland.

Andrew Welsh: The Scottish Parliament has had a range of requests to support the placing of commemorative works in the parliamentary complex. In order to move forward, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will consider the issue of commemorative works at a forthcoming meeting. It is anticipated that we will develop a policy on this subject which will clarify our approach taking into account resource and space implications.